Clothes Don't Make the Superhero
by Kali Cephirot
Summary: but they do help - After Captain America forbid them to wear their old uniforms again, it was obvious they were going to need new ones. Good thing that Kate knows just the person to go to... ONE SHOT, FINISHED.


**Clothes Don't Make the Superhero (but they do help) **

Sometimes, being the daughter of a billionaire was only worth anything with all the contacts she could get with a well placed 'pleaaaaaase daddy?' and looking sad.

And that was how she was sitting on miss Mode's office, hoping that the rumors she had that miss Mode liked to help superheroes were true. She wouldn't give up even if the rumors were fake, of course, but she wanted to bring Cassie good news. The only way she had cheered up after Nathaniel had gone back to his time to actually become Kang the Conqueror had been when Kate had told her she didn't want to give up being a superhero just yet.

If she could do this, Kate thought, then... then the rest would be easy. Or if not easy, doable.

She stood up when the door opened, what seemed a thousand voices coming behind the fashion designer. Kate very wisely said nothing when Edna closed the door on the faces of - who she assumed - where her assistants.

"I said, LATER!" Edna shouted at the door. Kate imagined she could hear the hurried steps of the people outside running to do whatever it was that Edna had sent them to do, and then she hurried to smile when Edna turned towards her, pushing her glasses up. "Katherine! Oh, you're so tall! And so beautiful! Are you a model, by any chance?"

"Oh, no, not at all, miss Mode."

"Call me Edna. And good, models are the bane of my existence!" Edna declared with a hand flourish. "They have no respect for what I do! All I hear from them are complaints! The dress makes me look fat, the color doesn't go with my skin, I'm too tall for this! Not one of them, hear me out, not one is worthy even the stitches of one of my creations!"

Kate followed Edna to the sitting area as Edna ranted her indignation, doing her best not to bite her lip nor look impatient as she sat down, the folder with the pictures of the uniforms she had on her lap.

Thankfully, Edna, after taking a deep breath, seemed to regain her composure after a moment, smiling beatifically at her as she hopped to sit down as well.

"Now, my dear, tell me. What can I do for you? Your sweet sixteen dress? Prom? A Ball?"

"Actually, miss... Edna, I was wondering if you could see the pictures I've brought here," Kate said, offering her the folder. Another one of the things that being the daughter of a billionaire taught you was that walls had ears, and their superhero career would be way too short if their identities were discovered. As much as her father liked to ignore her, Kate doubted that he would ignore _this_ particular hobby, or excuse it as something natural for a teenager to do before she matured.

Edna raised an eyebrow, but she took the folder, opening it. She looked at the contents for a moment, her expression not revealing anything before she closed it, hoping off her seat.

"Come with me, if you'd please."

Kate frowned for a moment - go _where_? - but she followed Edna to the side of her office, where, perhaps a bit surprising, Edna put her hand against the wall, which, apparently, wasn't a wall because a laser scanned her palm and the wall panel slid over. Kate couldn't help but think that she _was_ still so very knew to this whole world if that had surprised her, and also that she needed to go to the internet and learn more ASAP.

The moment the panel slid back into place, with her and Edna inside the secret room, Edna hit her leg with the folder. _Hard._

"Ouch!"

"Are you an idiot?" Edna screamed. It didn't matter that Kate was taller than her, suddenly the fashion designer seemed somehow taller than a building. "You do not bring up these things just like that! What do they teach children in school these days!"

"I didn't know where else to go!" Kate said. "Stop it!"

"Superheroes! They can't see beyond their egos!" Edna threw her hands to the air, still holding the folder, walking further inside. The walls were bare, the room cold. It was, almost, like a panic room, except that the only thing inside was a desk with two chairs on each side of it, and a computer screen that came up from said desk when Edna sat down.

"We need your help," Kate said, falling easily unto this other role. Sure, she didn't have a superhero name yet, but already she found this other persona different from just Kate Bishop.

"Oh, darling, I know," Edna made a face as she opened the folder, throwing one of the pictures towards Kate with distaste. "Those _colors_! The _accessories_ They are all _years_ out of style!"

"My team can't wear these anymore," Kate started, sitting down.

"Oh, so there is a god out there."

"Could you make us new uniforms?" Kate asked, frowning.

"To a group of teenagers! Oh, absolutely not! Just imagine what Captain America would say! I only make uniforms for the very best superheroes of this country and this dimension! I've developed fabrics that go beyond the reach of mere mortals! How could I live with myself if I did that! Not to mention that I work with your father! And not another word!"

And with that, Edna turned on her chair to face the wall, her arms crossed.

For a moment, Kate felt defeated. She stood up, and she was about to apologize for wasting Edna's time before she took a second look at her. She wasn't looking at her yet, but there was something on the set of her mouth that made her think that maybe, just maybe, Edna Mode was testing her. And testing the rest of the team.

Well, they were surely going to face a lot of that for a while, Kate thought, so she decided to gamble.

"You _will_ make us these uniforms," Kate said, putting a hand on the desk and leaning over Edna. "You said you only do uniforms for the best. Well, the Young Avengers _are_ going to be the best. And right now, this is your chance to get the right to brag to Captain America and everyone else that you were the first one who supported us from the beginning since you just _know_ greatness when you see it. Or I'll jut go and find someone else."

She was bluffing, and she knew it, but Kate kept her cool, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Edna Mode. Edna looked at her, as if she was considering, but there was a glint to her glasses that made Kate realize she had done what Edna was hoping (i.e. convince her to show she was serious about this) before Edna turned to look at her, offering her hand.

"Katherine, darling. You have just got yourself a deal."

Kate resisted the urge to whoop or scream in joy, instead just shaking Edna's hand. The moment they did this, Edna took the pictures again, scanning through them so fast that Kate wondered if Edna wasn't mutant herself by any chance.

"The hood has to go, and what is this color? No, what are those wings, terrible headset, and there is no way I'm allowing a cape like that on a creation, no," she sighed, as if she was terribly, terribly afflicted. "One day, superheroes will understand that capes never work. And... oh? There's no picture of you here, my dear?"

Kate almost lost her confidence for a moment when Edna turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised. She wasn't about to tell Edna that so far she had only been in one real battle, and that there were no records of that battle since it had happened in a time vortex. However, she recovered quickly.

"Well, I'm here, right? Out with the old, in with the new," she said.

Edna seemed extremely pleased by her answer. "Oh, I definitely do have an eye for this. Well, come along! We do not have time to spare!"

Before Kate could ask, again, go where, Edna went to another wall, and this time a full eye-scan came out before another door could open. She definitely had a lot to learn about this world. She kinda doubted that any of the guys - with the exception of Cassie - had much idea about how to handle this world.

But now, Kate thought, at least they would have the clothes to go with that learning.


End file.
